Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Water Abstraction

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to end the over-abstraction of water supplies by water companies; what deadlines have been set for the end of such over-abstraction; and what plans they have made to restore levels of over-abstracted reservoirs.

Lord Benyon: The Plan for Water sets out the actions we are taking to make abstraction sustainable. Since we published our abstraction plan (see attachment) in 2017, the Environment Agency has reduced damaging abstraction by returning 48 billion litres of water a year to the environment and removed the risk to the environment of the potential abstraction of 1.9 trillion litres of water. Water companies are told by the Environment Agency about what abstractions are deemed unsustainable through the Water Industry Environment Programme (see attachment) and the statutory water resources management plans (see attachment) and take action to remove or reduce these abstractions. In some cases, removal or reduction of abstraction licences will reduce the security of water supply for people and businesses, so water companies will have to take appropriate steps to reduce demand or develop new supplies of water to ensure they can still provide water supplies. The deadlines water companies are given vary, as some may require investigations into the level of reductions required. The Plan for Water shows water companies have to take action to reduce a gap between how much water they could supply when compared to future demand. The gap is 4 billion litres of water per day, which includes reductions in abstractions to protect the environment and accounts for the impacts of climate change on water sources. Water companies have recently produced new water resources plans showing how they will address this gap and the Environment Agency has produced a summary of how water companies (see attachment) will increase supply and reduce demand over the next 25 years.Water gov.uk attachments (pdf, 4547.1KB)

Food: Import Controls

Lord Hain: To ask His Majesty's Government why post-Brexit import checks on food and fresh produce from the EU have been delayed for the fifth time.

Lord Benyon: The Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) has been developed following extensive engagement with the border industry and businesses across the UK. It incorporates feedback from the Draft BTOM which was published in April 2023. In response to this feedback, the Government has agreed a small delay of 3 months to the introduction of remaining sanitary and phytosanitary controls, which will now be introduced in January 2024. This has the benefit of giving stakeholders additional requested time to prepare for the model.The Government remains committed to delivering the most effective border, and the BTOM is key to achieving this.

Food Supply: Climate Change

Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impacts of climate change and the increased frequency of extreme weather events on (1) domestic food producers, and (2) food security.

Lord Benyon: The Climate Change Act 2008 established the framework for strengthening the UK’s preparedness for climate change. The Act requires that the government publish a Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) every five years, which identifies the specific risks facing the UK from climate change. The most recent CCRA was published in January 2022. The CCRA is followed by the publication of a National Adaptation Programme, which sets out the government’s response to the risks identified by the CCRA. The third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) was published in July 2023, and addresses all 61 risks and opportunities identified in the third CCRA. NAP3 includes dedicated responses to risks to domestic agricultural productivity and UK food availability, safety, and quality from climate change overseas. The UK Food Security Report is a triannual statistical report required under the Agriculture Act 2020. The first report was published in 2021 and the next report, due in 2024, will continue to improve our understanding of climate risks to UK food security.

Food: Prices

Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of climate change-related crop loss as a driver of recent increases in food prices; and what proportion of those price increases theyassess this accounts for.

Lord Benyon: Consumer food prices depend on a range of factors including agri-food import prices, agricultural prices, labour and manufacturing costs, Sterling exchange rates and agricultural productivity. As such, we do not have an assessment of the direct or indirect impacts of climate change on food prices.

Plastics: Pollution

Lord Redesdale: To ask His Majesty's Government whatsteps they are taking to (1) prevent, (2) reduce, and (3) eliminate, plastic pollution.

Lord Benyon: The Government has taken an ambitious approach to tackling plastic pollution. We have already banned microbeads in rinse-off personal care products, as well as banning and restricting commonly littered plastic items – including our upcoming restrictions on single use plastic plates, cutlery, balloon sticks and expanded and extruded polystyrene food and drinks containers from October this year. Our single use carrier bag charge has reduced the use of single use carrier bags by 98% in the main retailers and in the Plan for Water, we recently announced that we will change the law to ban the sale of wet wipes containing plastic subject to public consultation, which will be launched in Autumn 2023. The UK Government is also proud to have supported the proposal by Rwanda and Peru that led to the ambitious resolution to start negotiating an international legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution, agreed at the United Nations Environment Assembly in March 2022. The UK is proud to be a founding member of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, a coalition of like-minded Governments that are committed to achieving an ambitious international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution. The High Ambition Coalition has agreed a common ambition to end plastic pollution by 2040, underpinned by strategic goals and deliverables.

Department of Health and Social Care

Vaccination: Finance

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to increase funding to deliver innovative immunisation delivery models to increase capacity and uptake among hard-to-reach groups.

Lord Markham: It is NHS England’s responsibility to apportion funds to optimise the delivery of the vaccination programmes. The Department works with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS England to improve immunisation delivery, capacity, and uptake for all. This includes looking at innovative delivery routes to make getting vaccinated easier for under-served and under-vaccinated communities.It is vitally important that everyone takes up the vaccinations to which they are entitled; for themselves, their families, and wider society. Anyone unsure about their eligibility or vaccination status should contact their general practitioner for advice.

Certification Quality Marks

Lord Hain: To ask His Majesty's Government why the use of both the UK Conformity Assessment mark and the EU’s CE mark will be allowed indefinitely for UK companies in the electronic, industrial, consumer and other sectors, but not for medical products produced in the UK.

Lord Markham: Medical devices are regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and are considered high-risk goods. The Government has put in place legislation to extend the acceptance of CE marked medical devices on the Great Britain market up to 2028 or 2030, depending on the type of CE certificate held.In addition, the MHRA are currently developing proposals for an international recognition framework. This would reduce, where safe to do so, barriers to medical devices entering the Great Britain market where they have already demonstrated to other trusted regulators that they meet our essential requirements.

Health: Research

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to collaborate with the NHS to (1) identify, and (2) prioritise, areas of research with the highest potential for successful translation into tangible benefits for patients and the healthcare system.

Lord Markham: The Department funds and enables research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NHS England Demand Signalling teams aim to identify, prioritise, and outline the most important research questions and innovation challenges that need addressing to deliver the NHS Long Term Plan. The NIHR works closely with NHS England to explore commissioning new research addressing the priorities identified through the demand signalling work.NIHR’s funding committees recommend which research projects to fund or prioritise, with input from those who use, work in and manage health and care services. The NIHR has also established networks, such as the NIHR Translational Research Collaborations, to facilitate the identification of areas of patient need with NHS trusts along with the United Kingdom’s leading universities and research centres.The NIHR also works with the National Health Service’s Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), to promote the adoption and diffusion of proven innovations and the decommissioning of ineffective or superseded interventions. The NIHR is partnering with the AAC as it enters into agreements with commercial companies to align research, manufacturing, and innovation deployment activities.

National Homecare Medicines Committee

Lord Laming: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the performance of the National Homecare Medicines Committee.

Lord Laming: To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with (1) the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, (2) the Care Quality Commission, (3) the General Pharmaceutical Council, and (4) the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, relating to the performance of homecare medicines services.

Lord Markham: The Department has not made an assessment of the performance of the National Homecare Medicines Committee (NHMC). Providers of Homecare Medicine services to National Health Service patients do so under framework agreements and contracts which may be held at national level through NHS England, regional level through NHS procurement hubs, or local level through hospital trusts. This therefore requires a high degree of centralised co-ordination for which the NHMC liaises with homecare providers through their trade association the National Clinical Homecare Association (NCHA) to support and co-ordinate development of the homecare market and discuss any system wide issues. The NHMC includes representatives from the NHS, including NHS England and Pharmaceutical officers, homecare providers, pharmaceutical manufacturer associations and the Care Quality Commission.NHS England, the NHMC and the NCHA have discussed concerns about the performance of homecare medicines services with officials from the Department.

NHS: Drugs

Baroness Stedman-Scott: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the quality and veracity of data gathered by (1) NHS services, and (2) homecare medicines companies, relating to the provision, quality and performance of homecare services.

Baroness Stedman-Scott: To ask His Majesty's Government why performance data for homecare medicines services providers is not published.

Baroness Stedman-Scott: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of patient satisfaction in homecare medicines services considering (1) all services, and (2) satisfaction with specific providers.

Lord Markham: As part of the quality assurance and governance processes, homecare providers are assessed monthly against their contractual Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which include the monitoring of delayed deliveries, missed doses and patients’ adverse events, complaints and incidents. The National Homecare Medicines Committee (NHMC) holds regular face-to-face meetings with providers at which they share national aggregated KPI data. But the capturing and monitoring of this data is to provide support for the individual trusts managing their contracts and there is no routine data collection which is then published.NHS England is undertaking a piece of work to understand the issues in homecare to inform future improvement actions. A project by the National Homecare Medicines Committee NHMC to review the national KPIs, which includes publication of performance against them, is already underway and final documents are expected for approval in December 2023 and for publication in April 2024.

Obesity: Malnutrition

Lord McColl of Dulwich: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Markham on 17 February (HL5559), what is the scientific definition of overnutrition; and how this is measured and monitored in obese individuals.

Lord McColl of Dulwich: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Markham on 17 February (HL5559), how many people in England are deemed to be malnourished; and what proportion of those are caused by (1) undernutrition, and (2) overnutrition.

Lord McColl of Dulwich: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 17 February (HL5559), whether individuals who do not have (1) a BMI of less than 18.5 kilograms/m2, (2) unintentional weight loss greater than 10 per cent within the last three to six months, or (3) a BMI of less than 20 kilograms/m2 and unintentional weight loss greater than five per cent within the last three to six months, are therefore not defined as malnourished or undernourished; and whether there are any other scientific measurements or criteria that would justify obese individuals not being defined as malnourished or undernourished.

Lord Markham: There is no agreed scientific nor universal definition of overnutrition, however the National Health Service refers to overnutrition as getting more nutrients than needed. Excess intake of macronutrients will mean an excess intake of energy, leading to weight gain and obesity. Excess intake of individual micronutrients may be associated with specific adverse health outcomes depending on the vitamin or mineral. Population prevalence of obesity is monitored by the Health Survey for England and data on population average energy and nutrient intakes are collected by the National Diet and Nutrition Survey. However, at an individual level, healthcare professionals may assess and monitor a patient’s weight and/or nutritional status depending on clinical need. Although there is no formal assessment of malnutrition at a population-level, NHS Digital collects data on finished hospital admission episodes of malnutrition in England, based on International Classification of Disease (ICD-10) codes. The cause of malnutrition is not presented in the Hospital Episode Statistics. The criteria referred to are from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) clinical guidelines CG32 ‘Nutrition support for adults: oral nutrition support, enteral tube feeding and parenteral nutrition’ and are recommended as indications for when nutrition support should be considered. This NICE guideline also states that nutrition support should be considered in people at risk of malnutrition, defined as those who have eaten little or nothing for more than 5 days and/or are likely to eat little or nothing for 5 days or longer; a poor absorptive capacity and/or high nutrient losses; and/or increased nutritional needs from causes such as catabolism. Healthcare professionals might use other screening or assessment tools, or their own clinical judgement regarding additional signs and symptoms, to assess whether someone is at risk of malnutrition. In the NICE guideline CG32, the term malnutrition is not used to cover excess nutrient provision (overnutrition). However, someone can be a healthy weight or have a body mass index in the overweight or obese categories but be identified through the NICE definition as potentially requiring nutrition support. Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) are also reported for scurvy and rickets, conditions which result from nutrient deficiencies, but these are reported separately to the HES for malnutrition.

Integrated Care Boards: Finance

Lord Bradley: To ask His Majesty's Government what was the aggregate financial surplus or deficit for each integrated care board in England at the end of the first quarter of the 2023–24 financial year; and what was the percentage change from the surplus or deficit at the beginning of the 2023–24 financial year.

Lord Markham: At the beginning of each financial year, all integrated care boards (ICBs) will agree a plan for the year with NHS England that includes expected expenditure against budgets for each month. At the end of the first quarter, several ICBs have reported an overspend against the agreed plan for that quarter. A table of the full list of these ICBs is attached.ICBs reporting overspend (xlsx, 17.7KB)

The Senior Deputy Speaker

Leave of Absence Sub-committee

Lord Young of Cookham: To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker when the Leave of Absence Sub-Committee last met.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: Under Standing Order 21(8) the Clerk of the Parliaments, in applying the provisions of the Standing Order, may seek the advice of the Leave of Absence Sub-Committee of the Procedure and Privileges Committee. The ex officio members of the Sub-Committee are the Senior Deputy Speaker (as Chair), the Chief Whips of the three largest parties and the Convenor of the Crossbench peers. The Sub-Committee last met formally on 13 July 2015, but the Clerk of the Parliaments consults me, and other individual members of the Sub-Committee as appropriate, when issues relating to the operation of the scheme arise.

Treasury

Africa: Debts

The Lord Bishop of Manchester: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the statement by African Faith Leaders on 8 August calling for a reduction of debtacross African countries.

Baroness Penn: The Government notes the statement by African Faith Leaders and we are working with our G20 partners to ensure swift progress and effective implementation of debt treatments under the Common Framework to deliver a long-term, sustainable approach to dealing with debt vulnerabilities. The Paris Club and the G20 have been clear that private creditors must participate in restructurings on terms at least as favourable as those provided by the official sector. The UK is also championing greater transparency around sovereign lending and borrowing, which plays an important role in supporting the debt sustainability of developing countries. While adhering to the G20 Operational Guidelines for Sustainable Financing and OECD sustainable lending principles, the UK has also put addressing the nexus between climate and debt at the top of its international agenda through pioneering the use of climate resilient debt clauses (CRDCs).